The Roundness of the Earth
Ahh, remembering The Flat End of the Earth era of The Life and Times is to relive the memories of a distant time. The time stamp on these files are from June 1st, 2010, almost a decade ago. This was a fantastic lineup to boot up for a new band with Allen Epley at the helm post-Shiner (1.0). Even though the debut EP was released in 2003, the band had written a lot of material for what could've been a 2nd album with The Flat End lineup. This early incarnation of the band comprised of John Meredith (Someday I, bass and baritone), Mike Meyers (The String and Return, drums) and of course Allen Epley.
These flat ended songs were unearthed by someone and it ended up in the mits of Dan Barta, who shared these with me via Soulseek.Soon after unearthing these versions it found a home on Dave Cubberly's site that featured some of my recordings of TLAT and Brett Wilms recordings in the Midwest. This was gold to us fans because there were no "official" recordings of these songs that were performed live with The Flat End lineup. These tunes were found as is, most are mp3s, a couple AAC codec (m4a) and had inconsistencies on bitrate.
Catching Crumbs - 1st of 3 versions, this is the initial version that I loved from being played live with the original The Flat End lineup. 2nd version was released on a compilation for raising money for J. Robbins son called "Callum Compilation." Then the last version ended up on Tragic Boogie.
The following is the track rundown:
Shift your Gaze - Initial version before TLAT 2.0 lineup recorded for "Suburban Hymns."
My Red Eyes - The earliest incarnation of Charlotte Street.
From Gold to Cold - This is my favorite of the demos, with an off-kilter timing for the guitar riff. A song that was released in its original form on the "Crisp Songs Compilation."
Chorus of Crickets - Initial version before TLAT 2.0 lineup recorded for "Suburban Hymns."
Little Big Man - A tune that was never released officially, but unofficially here and was played live with The Flat End lineup.
The End of Time - This song is featured but renamed to Coda on the Japanese release of "Suburban Hymns" released on Stiff Slack Records.
I want you (She's So Heavy) {Beatles cover} - Ah, what I'd give to see this live, they only played this live during their Midwest tours. This song is almost an exact replica of the original.
The Graduate - A tune that was never released officially, and I have not heard a live version of this tune and may not have been played out live at all.
The Party - Jesse Mays favorite song if I recall correctly? A tune that was played live during The Flat End lineup only and was never officially recorded.
The Magician - A tune that was never released officially but has an EP with the current lineup of the same name. I don't think this was performed live either.
untitled - The prequel to the sequel for Muscle Cars on Suburban Hymns. This track was never officially released or played live.
I know you are - released officially as the intro track to The Magician EP. Of course was played out live as well.
On June 1st, 2020, the 10 year anniversary of these demos I will transcode these mp3s to be remastered and improved from the initial files. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the original-original files but will be working with these to upload to the server to make them brighter and louder... cos who likes quiet mp3s when they're meant to be listened to at a good volume!
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